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Edible flowers: recipes ideas & how to grow

Read Val Bourne's ideas for using edible flowers you can grow at home, including what edible flowers work well in salads, cakes and more.

18/06/2018

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edible flowers: recipes ideas & how to grow

val bourne

Add edible flowers, such as nasturtiums and borage, to salads

Add edible flowers, such as nasturtiums and borage, to salads

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Edible flowers make a great addition to salads, or you can crystalise them for cake decorations, float them in summer punches and cordials, or add them to cake mixes.

Using edible flowers in cakes and biscuits

To make crystalised flower petals for cake decorating, brush the dry flowers with egg white, underside first, and drench them with caster sugar on both sides. A cake cooling rack is ideal here because they need hours to dry. Opt for darker flowers, and allow them to become stiff and dry before you put them on cakes. Snip the stems off after the flowers have dried. It’s a great activity for young children and especially suitable for lemon-iced cakes in spring.

Petals which make wonderful cake decorations when crystalised include rose petals, pansies and petunias. Try this recipe for rose cake.

Some edible flowers are great added to cake and biscuit mixes, try this simple recipe for lavender biscuits.

The flavour is slightly peppery, with sweet undertones, and you can either break the flowers up and scatter, or use whole ones as a garnish. Allow a little time for flea beetles to escape from the flowers though!

Certain vegetables also provide edible flowers. Pea shoots and pea flowers can be incorporated into a salad, as can red runner bean flowers.

Using edible flowers in tempura

Cucurbits (courgettes, squashes, cucumbers and pumpkin) produce enormous yellow flowers and these can be deep-fried in batter as tempura. Use 100g cornflour, 150g plain flour, 10g baking powder and enough cold fizzy water to form a coating batter. The Italians have special varieties selected for their large flowers and Seeds of Italy sell a seed mix called Courgette Flowers designed to produce masses of flower all at once.

Using lavender to make flavoured sugar

You can add lavender flowers to sugar as a flavouring for biscuits etc. You can do this by pulverising the flowers for a more intense flavour, or mixing whole buds into the sugar and leaving in a jar to infuse while still retaining the decorative flower buds.

Edible petals for drinks

Blue borage (Borago officinalis) is a classic addition to summer drinks - although the blue flowers may turn pink quite quickly. You can also add dianthus petals and one old variety, once used as a cheaper alternative to the expensive clove, is called ‘Sops in Wine’. Sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis) and wallflower petals could also be added.

How to grow edible annuals

Nasturtiums, calendulas and borage can be sown in May to flower eight weeks later. Prepare the ground and plant the nasturtiums, which have large caper-sized seeds, into the ground using a trowel. Plant them to a depth of one inch with one foot between plants. Trailing forms make an sunny looking edging for a vegetable plot.

Varieties vary from compact to trailing and Whirlybird Mix or Thompson & Morgan’s ‘Crimson Emperor’ are both excellent. Cabbage white butterflies may attack the leaves and you must also guard against sowing earlier than May - because frost-susceptible nasturtiums can be killed by the slightest frost.

Seeds of borage and calendula can be sprinkled straight on to prepared soil that has been watered. Cover lightly with garden soil. They should take ten days to germinate and you may want to cover the seeds with sticks or wire to prevent cats from scratching the soil. Borage will then self seed on its own - sometimes a little too enthusiastically.

Calendula petals can be incorporated into chocolate and carrot cake recipes, or put into ice cream just before serving.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by Saga unless specifically stated.

The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal, medical or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.